Stage 4: 492 Real Stories
492 stories match stage 4. 319 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Leslie’s Patient Story
Leslie was 56 when her breast cancer diagnosis unfolded over 2.5 months in 2017. A March 3D mammogram led to a call-back for the left breast, but the follow-up report was normal and noted dense breasts that could obscure small masses. Leslie still sensed that…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Raquel’s Patient Story
Raquel was 33 when she shared her experience with terminal Stage IV colorectal cancer. Her symptoms started years earlier with frequent bathroom trips, pencil-thin stools, abdominal pain, bloating, blood in her stool, and later getting full quickly after…
Read this storyStage IV BRCA Breast Cancer: Dena’s Patient Story
Dena Ofengeim was 28 in December 2021 when worsening back pain and leg weakness sent her to the emergency room. Imaging found a mass pressing on the nerves of her spine. Surgery removed the mass, and a biopsy showed that it was breast cancer that had spread…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Bobbi’s Survivor Story
In June 2022, Bobbi Ratliff went to the emergency room with severe stomach cramps and vomiting. A CT scan showed that her colon was about 90% blocked, leading to hospital admission and a diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer at age 50. Imaging also found a liver…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Ivy’s Survivor Story
Ivy E. was 47 when neck pain and trouble straightening her elbow led to an unexpected Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. Doctors first thought the symptoms might be an overuse injury. Imaging of the elbow showed a mass involving the joint and bone. After…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Cristina’s Survivor Story
Cristina Patrick underwent surgery on July 27, 2020, to remove a malignant mass from her left ovary and was initially told she had ovarian cancer. Continued gastrointestinal problems led to a colonoscopy, which found a mass in her descending colon. A colon…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Deborah’s Patient Story
Deborah Persinger was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010 after bronchitis-like symptoms would not go away and early X-rays and tests did not explain the problem. A local thoracic surgeon gave her a poor 5-year survival estimate, and she asked to be treated at…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jason’s Patient Story
Jason Reese was 49 when he described living with Stage IV colorectal cancer that started in the rectum and spread extensively to his liver. For a long time, he explained away gastrointestinal distress as diet-related. Blood on the toilet paper slowly worsened…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jim’s Patient Story
Jim Bromwich was 36 when mild abdominal cramps and a small amount of blood in his stool pushed him to ask for a colonoscopy. He had been active and healthy, and an initial doctor reassured him that colon cancer was unlikely at his age. His GP still offered a…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Tiffany’s Patient Story
Tiffany was 38 when symptoms that first seemed ordinary became a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. In early 2020, she noticed pain in her right rib and thought she might have pulled a muscle. During a hiking trip in Colorado that July, she became so short of…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Agnes’s Patient Story
Agnes, a social worker from Ireland, was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in May 2024 after abdominal pain led to a hospital admission. She had also experienced weight loss and fatigue. Doctors told her that surgery was not currently suitable…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Anna’s Patient Story
Anna sought medical care after changes in bowel habits, blood in the stool and persistent abdominal symptoms. The problem was initially treated as a suspected perianal abscess, but an MRI later found a tumor. Further scans showed cancer involving 2 lymph…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jeff’s Patient Story
Jeff Williams was 50 when his first routine colonoscopy found a tumor in his sigmoid colon. Scans the next day confirmed Stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs, with 4 liver lesions and 3 lung lesions. He first had surgery to remove…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Kris’s Patient Story
Kris Hallenga was 23 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. By the time she spoke with Dr. Liz O'Riordan in December 2023, she had been living with advanced breast cancer for 14 years. Her story is not built around a detailed treatment timeline…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Dania’s Patient Story
Dania Martinez was 35, married, and a mother of 3 when a week of unusual abdominal pain and bloating led her to the emergency room in September 2022. She had long dealt with food-related bloating and constipation, so at first she thought the pain might be…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Matt’s Survivor Story
Matt Hiznay was 24 and in his second year of medical school when a persistent dry cough led to a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis in August 2011. He was a lifelong nonsmoker, making the diagnosis especially hard to process. Testing showed the cancer was driven…
Read this storyStage IV BRAF Colorectal Cancer: Loralee’s Patient Story
Loralee Lovell had lived with irritable bowel symptoms for years, so blood in her stool did not initially seem unusual. After moving from North Dakota to Texas at the end of 2020, she was exhausted from the move, caring for 5 children, and a new litter of…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Sherri’s Patient Story
Sherri was first diagnosed in November 2022 with aggressive Stage IV metastatic breast cancer after her blood counts dropped and doctors found a breast mass. The cancer had spread to her bone marrow, so she needed multiple transfusions before starting…
Read this storyStage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Corky’s Patient Story
Corky Thacker was 64 when breast discoloration that first seemed like a heat rash eventually led to a Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer diagnosis. She was careful about annual mammograms, but inflammatory breast cancer can be hard to detect because it often…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Multiple primaries: metastatic Breast Cancer + Colon/Colorectal Cancer: Sherri’s Patient Story
Sherri was a retired Air Force member, therapist, and mother of 3 when shortness of breath after a Costa Rica trip became impossible to ignore. At the emergency room, her oxygen level was dangerously low and her blood counts were falling, leading to…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Christine’s Patient Story
Christine was 57, active, and previously healthy when shortness of breath, clavicle pain, and shoulder pain led to imaging. X-ray, CT, MRI, and PET scans showed pleural and cardiac effusions and Stage IV adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer. She had…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Olivia’s Survivor Story
Olivia Franz was 27 and breastfeeding her 4-month-old son when she noticed a painless lump in her left breast in mid-October 2020. An initial ultrasound suggested mastitis, but the lump and swelling grew during a week of antibiotics. A second ultrasound and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Julie’s Patient Story
Julie Flower was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in March 2018, initially with liver metastases. Over the next 5 years, the cancer involved multiple sites, including the lung, liver, lymph nodes, and bone. Her treatment history was long and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Keith’s Patient Story
Keith was 41 when abdominal pain after gallbladder removal led to an emergency room visit in May 2021. A CT scan showed a mass or blockage in his colon. Further evaluation also found affected lymph nodes and 4 lesions in his liver. He had emergency surgery…
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